The Machine Stops [Classic Tales Edition] cover art

The Machine Stops [Classic Tales Edition]

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Machine Stops [Classic Tales Edition]

By: E. M. Forster
Narrated by: B. J. Harrison
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £1.99

Buy Now for £1.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

The earth's surface is no longer habitable. All humanity is sequestered beneath the ground, couched in isolation and contentment. The Machine provides the needs of humanity. Mankind becomes subservient drones to the life-supporting Machine. But what happens when the Machine stops?

Public Domain (P)2018 B.J. Harrison Anthologies Anthologies & Short Stories Classics Science Fiction Fiction Short Story

Listeners also enjoyed...

 The Colour of Magic cover art
Controligarchs cover art
One Nation Under Blackmail, Vol. 1 cover art
Alan Partridge: Big Beacon cover art
Whips cover art
Hidden Genius cover art
Free Your Mind cover art
Paradise Lost cover art
Superintelligence cover art
The Iliad cover art
Parable of the Sower cover art
What We Owe the Future cover art
The War of the Worlds cover art
Values, Voice and Virtue cover art
Don Quixote cover art
The Dawn of Language cover art
All stars
Most relevant  
the topic is very prescient in the times where the rise of AI is hotly debated...

a critical dystopia for our times.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I heard about this book for the first time on a radio programme about AI, recently. It is intriguing and an enjoyable listen, short enough to finish in one sitting on a sunny day in the garden.
unbelievable that it was written a century ago, but still relevant.

Timeless and thought provoking

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It's extraordinary that this novel was written in 1909, for it so accurately describes today's world and some of the great challenges we are facing. Humanity, caught between safe and pleasureable intellectualism and harsh but vital experience, must choose one and opts for disaster. It's only short but has so much to say on the limits and vanity of human thought and the essence of being alive.

Prescient

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
genuine good listen considering the date of the book it's a real eye opener to today's world

great listen!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Loved this story as scarily perceptive considering it was written more than a hundred years ago. Thoroughly recommend.

Riveting!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The turn of the 20th century has produced some of the most intriguing sci-fi books, and this is certainly one of them. I would have loved it to last longer...

Brilliant and terrifying

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Written in 1909, the technology and ‘progress’ depicted by Forster is alarmingly close to our recent reality especially when considering the way Covid19 lockdowns had us living and the division and alienation it had caused through much of society. It is a concisely put together story which leads to a contemplation over what else he may have written here that is yet to come to light.
The narration of B. J. Harrison was spot on for me. Dynamic without feeling over egged.

Worryingly prophetic

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Fantastic allegory of life today! Amazingly prescient . Read at school for GCE so that tells you how long ago it was!

So relevant even more today

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
how prophetic, amazing how the author saw into our future so accurately. highly recomended to anyone who thinks technology should advance without strict regulation.

a tale for today

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Spiffing delivery. Delivery makes for a gripping listening experience of a perfectly succinct novella/short story.
Ever-increasing in relevance, poignant.

Splendid

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews